Best practice for transferring ownership for existing store with existing products and orders…

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Best practice for transferring ownership for existing store with existing products and orders…

dburney
Visitor
2 0 3

Community/support - I have a client with an existing Shopify store and domain. We are wrapping up a full redesign - with new content and navigation, additional pages and a new theme. There have also been changes to products and tags to accommodate some apps and custom functionality with a few custom liquid templates. The client also has a large amount of product that has not been added to the new dev site and a few active orders that still need to be fulfilled. 

What is the best way to transfer ownership to ensure no loss of product or orders?

 

Accepted Solution (1)

Julie
Shopify Staff
1109 106 375

This is an accepted solution.

Hi, @dburney!

Julie here from Shopify Support.

Assuming you've created a development store through your Shopify Partners account, you can transfer ownership through your Partner Dashboard. Once you're ready to launch, your client can transfer their domain to the new store.

Have the new products already been added to your client's existing store? If so, they can export those products and import them into the new store. Or, they can simply add them to the new store as they would regularly add products.

It's not possible to import orders into another store, so I suggest having your client keep the old store open until they've fulfilled all open orders. Once that's done, they can export their orders to a CSV file for their records.

Aside from exporting their orders, there may be some other data they may want to consider saving if they plan on closing this store down. For example, they might want to export their billing history. If they sell gift cards, then they'll want to also export their gift cards so they have the information they may need to resolve any outstanding cards. Customer lists can also be exported and imported into the new store. 

We actually have a help doc on how to close your store that offers some steps your client should consider taking before closing their store. Our help doc on backups and duplication also outlines what can be exported into CSV files and what information can be duplicated and transferred to the new store. 

I hope this helps. If I've misunderstood your question or if you have further questions, please let me know!

Julie | Social Care @ Shopify 
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Replies 4 (4)

Julie
Shopify Staff
1109 106 375

This is an accepted solution.

Hi, @dburney!

Julie here from Shopify Support.

Assuming you've created a development store through your Shopify Partners account, you can transfer ownership through your Partner Dashboard. Once you're ready to launch, your client can transfer their domain to the new store.

Have the new products already been added to your client's existing store? If so, they can export those products and import them into the new store. Or, they can simply add them to the new store as they would regularly add products.

It's not possible to import orders into another store, so I suggest having your client keep the old store open until they've fulfilled all open orders. Once that's done, they can export their orders to a CSV file for their records.

Aside from exporting their orders, there may be some other data they may want to consider saving if they plan on closing this store down. For example, they might want to export their billing history. If they sell gift cards, then they'll want to also export their gift cards so they have the information they may need to resolve any outstanding cards. Customer lists can also be exported and imported into the new store. 

We actually have a help doc on how to close your store that offers some steps your client should consider taking before closing their store. Our help doc on backups and duplication also outlines what can be exported into CSV files and what information can be duplicated and transferred to the new store. 

I hope this helps. If I've misunderstood your question or if you have further questions, please let me know!

Julie | Social Care @ Shopify 
 - Was my reply helpful? Click Like to let me know! 
 - Was your question answered? Mark it as an Accepted Solution
 - To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Shopify Blog

dburney
Visitor
2 0 3

Thanks Julie. That is helpful. The new store will replace the existing store. It's a massive facelift with additional content pages and tweaks to products with tags. Not all products will need these new tags and we only added product to the dev store for testing. We don't currently have their full product line up on the dev side. I will get with them on exporting/importing the additional product. 

And thanks for mentioning purchase history, etc., - that will be very important to them. Sounds like we essentially need to back everything up, import it into the dev site, transfer ownership and shut down the previous store. 

Thanks for your help. 

 

-- db

 

Lazzarus
Shopify Partner
3 0 0

Hello @Julie I would also like to transfer a new development store to a client with an existing store. My only question is what happens to their existing Shopify plan? If they transfer their existing domain to the new store and cancel their old store, will they lose their old plan and need to start a new one? or will the existing plan continue to the new store without additional cost?
Thanks for the advice!

Dirk
Shopify Staff
2428 258 551

Hey, @Lazzarus 

 

If your client has an existing store, and then you transfer another development store to them, this would be considered two seperate stores on their own unique subscription plans. Where they would be paying a subscription for each one.

 

If there is anything else I can help you with, please let me know.

 

Dirk | Social Care @ Shopify 
 - Was my reply helpful? Click Like to let me know! 
 - Was your question answered? Mark it as an Accepted Solution
 - To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Shopify Blog